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.The Soviets had wanted to agree on the resumption of direct flights between the two countries—suspended after KE 007—the quid pro quo for the American pro-gram of cultural exchanges.This was where Gorbachev put his foot down.The Americans were also pleased with his promise about381reynolds_02.qxd 8/31/07 10:29 AM Page 382sum m i t s“resolving humanitarian cases in the spirit of cooperation.”The Soviets for their part secured a statement that both sides “agreed that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”—a matterof real moment for the Politburo after the 1983 war scare—andalso a general commitment to “prevent an arms race in space and to terminate it on earth.” Most important, both sides pledged to“place on a regular basis and intensify dialogue at various levels.”This process was to include “greater travel and people-to-people contact” and regular meetings between foreign ministers and between heads of other departments.There was also a promise tomeet at the summit again “in the nearest future” in Washington and then in Moscow.98At ten o’clock on Thursday, November 21 the statement was is-sued and the two leaders spoke briefly to the media.Predictably Gorbachev featured the arms control discussions and Reagan the wider American agenda, but both leaders gave optimistic assessments of the good start they had made.Gorbachev then traveled to Prague to meet Warsaw Pact leaders, while Reagan flew to Brussels to brief his Western allies.Again the president presented this first meeting “not as a watershed event in and of itself, but rather an important part of a vital long-term process.” Most NATO leaders offered congratulations but Margaret Thatcher was more cautious:“The presentation and style of the Soviet leadership have changed but the substance appears the same.” After ninety minutes Reagan flew back across the Atlantic to address a joint session of the U.S.Congress at 9:20 p.m.Washington time, his speech carried live on radio and TV.99Like Nixon in 1972, Reagan wanted to put his own spin with-out delay on how the summit was interpreted.He admitted there wasn’t a “meeting of minds” on ideology or national purpose, but stressed the range and candor of what he called their “fireside summit”: five of the fifteen hours had been spent one on one.He also featured their agreement “in the parking lot” for future meetings in Washington and Moscow.The president’s speech went down extremely well:“I hadn’t gotten such a reception since I was shot,” he noted in his diary.It rounded off a day that began twenty hours 382reynolds_02.qxd 8/31/07 10:29 AM Page 383g e neva 19 85earlier, showing that the aging president could rise to the occasion when it really mattered.100What was his private verdict? Reagan’s hawkish speechwriters—particularly Peggy Noonan and Pat Buchanan—had insertedderogatory comments about the Soviet Union and Gorbachevhimself into the speech, but the president took them out.“This has been a good meeting.I think I can work with this guy,” Reagan insisted.“I can’t just keep poking him in the eye.” To communist leaders around the world, Gorbachev played up Geneva as “a real skirmish,” claiming that Don Regan had told him afterward that“no one had ever talked so frankly and with such force to the president before.” But on the plane home he remarked to his entourage that, although Reagan was “stubborn and very conservative,” he was “not as hopeless as some believed.” Hardly a ringing endorsement, but Gorbachev felt he had made contact with Reagan andcould work with him.101After the summit there was bound to be a letdown.In MoscowGorbachev faced criticism about his lack of achievements atGeneva, not only from old-guard politicians such as VladimirShcherbistky, the party boss of the Ukraine, but also Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev, chief of staff of the Soviet armed forces.In Washington, McFarlane resigned as national security advisor, shattered by the high-level feuds.And a weary Shultz had to be dissuaded from going as well.102By the new year the spirit of Geneva seemed to have evaporated [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |